Floor care cleaning equipment including upright and canister vacuum cleaners as well as power nozzles and nozzle attachments for such vacuum cleaners as well as extractors are all very well known in the art. Each of these devices incorporates a suction generator for drawing an airstream into an intake opening in the nozzle. Dust, dirt and debris from an underlying surface such as a carpet, rug or bare floor become entrained in the airstream and are drawn into the intake opening. The dust, dirt and debris are separated from the airstream in the vacuum cleaner and collected in a dirt collecting vessel such as a cup, container or bag and the clean air is then subjected to final filtration before being exhausted into the environment.
Whether the cleaning equipment in question operates utilizing cyclonic airflow principles or is non-cyclonic or utilizes a bag or a cup, the velocity of the airstream being drawing into the intake opening has a significant effect on the cleaning efficiency of the device. Specifically, the greater the velocity of the airstream being drawn into the intake opening, the greater the capacity of that airstream for carrying dirt into the device and toward the dirt collection vessel.
The present invention relates to a nozzle assembly for a suction cleaning device incorporating structures adapted to accelerate the airstream as it approaches the intake opening and thereby increase cleaning efficiency.